Realization
by lunalongbottom2448
Summary: The story of what happened to Ron and Hermione in the Chamber of Secrets and after. Another missing moment from Deathly Hallows.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:**** J.K. Rowling owns everything!**

Ron Weasley stood in the middle of the Room of Requirement, feeling entirely useless. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Hermione talking to Dean Thomas about something. Ron assumed she was telling him their Gringotts story.

Harry had gone off with Luna to the Ravenclaw common room, and with Hermione busy at the moment, Ron didn't know what he should do. Doing nothing just felt wrong. He stared around at the other students in the room. They all were talking amongst themselves. He heard the words "Harry" and "Gringotts" several times, so it seemed that everyone was having the same conversation.

Ron let out a quiet sigh. He hoped Harry knew what he was doing. If all went well, they would soon know if the diadem was the Horcrux, maybe even where it was. Then all they had to do was destroy it, and there would only be one left! Granted, it would probably be the hardest to destroy...

Hermione finished talking to Dean and walked over to Ron. When she had reached him, she said, "Ron, I've been thinking. How are we going to destroy all these Horcruxes without the sword? I mean, we haven't gotten rid of the cup yet, and we still have two more after that!"

Ron considered this, and her mention of Gryffindor's sword reminded him of something. His head started spinning as he realized the answer to their problem. "We need to get into the Chamber of Secrets," he blurted out all of a sudden.

This obviously surprised Hermione, and she started to ask, "But why—"

Ron interrupted her and said, "We need the basilisk fangs!" She still looked confused, so he explained further. "The only reason Gryffindor's sword destroyed Horcruxes was because it was full of basilisk venom, right? So if the basilisk's body is still in the Chamber and we can get its fangs, we won't even need the sword!"

Understanding dawned on Hermione's face, and she smiled at him. "Ron, that's brilliant!" she exclaimed. Then she wondered aloud, "Why didn't I think of that?"

Ron smiled back at her, but also rolled his eyes and said, "Come on, follow me."

"Wait!" Hermione grabbed his arm to hold him back from the door. "What if we get caught? The Carrows don't sound like they would be very forgiving to two students in the halls after hours."

Ron paused for a moment before replying, "Well then, let's not get caught." And with that, Ron snatched a broomstick from beside the door and walked up the staircase. Hermione had no choice but to follow.

O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O

Hermione Granger walked through the deserted corridors of Hogwarts, making a conscious effort to keep her footsteps silent. She was wishing desperately for Harry's invisibility cloak, but at the moment it was somewhere on the other side of the castle with him and Luna.

In front of Hermione tiptoed Ron. He was being just as cautious as her, looking around corners and jumping at small noises. He was walking slightly bent over, as if reducing his height would keep him less visible from unfriendly eyes. Hermione's heart was pounding relentlessly in her chest, and she kept getting distracted by strange shadows off to the sides of the hallways. It was never anything dangerous, just a statue or a suit of armor. But one of her moments of distraction caused her to bump into Ron, nearly knocking both of them over. He had stopped at another corner and was trying to peer around it.

Ron straightened himself up so that he was at his normal height again. He made sure he had Hermione's attention before mouthing the words, "We're here." Hermione looked around the corner they had stopped at and saw he was right. She could make out the door to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom through the darkness. Slowly, Ron and Hermione made their way down the hallway, opened the bathroom door, and silently slipped inside.

Hermione felt an enormous sense of relief now that they were safe from the Carrows. Judging by the look he was giving her, Ron seemed to be feeling the same way, but that was until they noticed—

"Myrtle," said Ron with worry evident in his voice. "Erm... how have you been?" Moaning Myrtle had popped her head out of the bathroom stall at the far end of the bathroom, and she was looking especially irritable. Hermione was glad that Ron was attempting to be friendly. The last thing they needed was for Myrtle to start wailing and wake up the whole castle.

"Oh, it's you two," Myrtle sighed, completely disregarding Ron's question. "Where's Harry? He hasn't come to see me in ages. I bet he's forgotten all about me!"

Myrtle's bottom lip started to quiver, and she was obviously about to start sobbing, but Hermione quickly came to the rescue by saying, "No, no Myrtle, Harry hasn't forgotten you! In fact, he mentions you all the time!" Hermione thought that this might seem a bit far fetched, but Myrtle seemed to believe her. The signs of approaching tears were fading from the ghost's face. "He wanted to come visit you, Myrtle," Hermione continued, "but he's sort of busy at the moment. So he asked us to come here and say hi to you for him before we went into the Chamber."

Myrtle looked slightly suspicious at the last portion of Hermione's statement, but she let out a loud "humph!" and floated back into the cover of her stall. Ron and Hermione exchanged silent looks of relief once more, before focusing their attention on the task at hand.

Ron walked over to one of the sinks lining the wall and knelt down to examine it. "This is the one," he told Hermione. She came closer to the sink and saw a small snake engraved in it. She looked at Ron with concern, a new thought having just dawned on her.

"Ron, didn't you tell me that Harry had to speak Parseltongue to get into the Chamber?" This seemed to have occurred to Ron too, because he gave her a quick nod before turning back to the sink. He closed his eyes, scrunching them tightly as if he were deep in thought. After about a minute, he let out a strangled hissing noise. Hermione thought it sounded like Parseltongue, but nothing happened to the sink. Ron looked visibly frustrated and he tried again. Still, nothing happened.

This went on for almost ten minutes. Hermione stayed silent the whole time, knowing that she would only annoy Ron more by interrupting his concentration. Finally, he let out a smooth hissing noise and the sink slid back, revealing a long tunnel. Hermione beamed at Ron, thoroughly impressed with him. He smiled slightly at the look she was giving him and said, "I'll go first."

Ron sat down on the edge of the tunnel, his long legs stretched out in front of him and the broomstick still held tightly in his hand. "Wait a minute before you go down. We might hit each other otherwise," he told Hermione. She nodded and he turned back to the tunnel. He pushed off and disappeared from sight. Hermione waited for awhile before sliding down herself.

The tunnel wound on for what seemed like hours, but eventually Hermione shot out of the end. She landed on a filthy floor, sat up, and looked around. It would have been pitch-black, but Ron had the end of his wand lit up. He helped her to her feet and said, "The Chamber's that way. I've never actually been in it, but if we just keep walking straight, we should find it." Hermione wasn't positive this would work, but Ron had already set off down a dark passage before she could say anything. She quickly followed behind him, not wanting to get lost in a place like this.

They walked for awhile down the grimy passageway until they came to a wall of rock. Ron climbed it and squeezed through a cleared-out space near the ceiling without a moment of hesitation. Hermione followed suit and when she had arrived on the other side, Ron tucked the broom under his arm and grabbed her hand, pulling her along next to him. Even though he was walking so fast that she practically had to run to keep up with him, she didn't shake off his hand. He had been holding hands with her a lot more lately, but it still caught her slightly off-guard.

Hermione was distracted from her thoughts by Ron halting abruptly. They had reached a sort of door in the wall. There were more snakes engraved in it. Ron stared at the door, still holding Hermione's hand, and hissed at the snakes. He seemed more confident this time, and it only took three tries for him to say the right word. He hissed in the same way he had to the sink and the door swung open. Hermione gripped Ron's hand tighter and together they walked into the Chamber.

**A/N: This will be a three chapter story! The more reviews I get, the faster I'll update! ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the first chapter! It means a lot to hear so much good feedback! :) I'll be uploading the last chapter this weekend. Also, I made a few small edits in the first chapter about the broom Harry saw Ron holding when he met up with them. So you can go back and read that first if you want to!**

The first thing that Ron noticed as they entered the Chamber was that it stunk. A lot. The room was dark, but his wand helped a bit. He heard Hermione mutter, "_Lumos_," and the tip of her wand lit up as well.

Now the Chamber was illuminated enough that Ron could see the outline of a giant snake at the far end of the room. He started walking towards it, Hermione's hand held tightly in his. He was grateful for the touch, and it gave him some extra confidence. His head was racing with thoughts of what could go wrong during the next 24 hours, and holding Hermione's hand somehow kept him from becoming overwhelmed by everything. He wasn't looking forward to when he would have to let go.

Ron and Hermione walked the length of the Chamber, past the tall pillars, and up to the basilisk. Ron knew immediately that this had been causing the awful smell in the room. The body was mostly bone, but there were several spots still covered in rotting flesh. They walked toward its head cautiously, since they knew that the fangs were as dangerous now that the basilisk was dead as they were when it had been alive.

Ron reluctantly let go of Hermione's hand and bent down next to the basilisk skull, setting his broom and still-lit wand next to him. He turned towards Hermione and said, "I think I'd better do this by myself. You know, just in case..."

But he knew from the stubborn look on Hermione's face that she wouldn't listen to him. He was proven right when she haughtily retorted, "Ron, I'm more than capable of removing a few teeth from a dead basilisk. Besides, my parents are dentists."

Ron smiled at the last part of her statement and he decided not to argue about it. As much as he enjoyed occasionally bickering with Hermione, now definitely wasn't the time. So he nodded to her to show his agreement, and she knelt beside him.

He still thought it would be best if he were the first to take out a fang. Carefully placing his hands on either side of one, he made sure he had a firm grip before yanking hard on it. But it was far looser than he'd been expecting, and he almost impaled his leg with the force of his pull. He carefully put the fang down next to him and reached out a hand to stop Hermione as she moved to dislodge one as well. "How many of these do we need?" he asked her.

She thought for a moment before replying, "We should probably take as many as we can carry. I'm sure there won't be enough time to come back down here and get more. And it can't hurt to have extras." Ron nodded at her again, and she reached out her hands to remove a fang. She was obviously being careful not to repeat Ron's mistake and pull too hard, and got it out easily. She put it down next to Ron's fang.

For about ten minutes, they sat on the floor of the Chamber, plucking fangs out of the basilisk's skull. After awhile, they realized that they already had a huge pile of the fangs; many more than they needed. Hermione started to collect the fangs in her arms, but Ron stopped her by saying, "Maybe we should just destroy it right here. Who knows when we'll get another chance, and personally, I'd love to get this thing off our hands."

Hermione nodded in agreement, and Ron handed her a basilisk fang. She looked at him, shocked, and asked, "Wait, you want me to do it?"

Ron replied, "I've already killed one, and so has Harry. You should get a turn."

Hermione didn't look pleased with this turn of events, but nevertheless, she took Hufflepuff's cup out of her bag and put it gently on the ground. Ron thought that the cup might sense the basilisk fangs nearby, because he could hear a faint humming noise issuing from it.

Hermione gulped loudly, looking extremely apprehensive. She turned to look at Ron, and he smiled encouragingly at her. This seemed to strengthen her resolve, and she raised the fang in her hands, faced the cup, and rammed the fang into it.

Or at least she tried to. But before she had even brought the fang halfway towards the cup, a huge blast like a cannon sounded and she and Ron were both blown backwards across the Chamber.

O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O

Hermione felt as if she was halfway between sleep and consciousness. She could see the blurry outline of the ceiling and pillars in the Chamber above her, but what she saw most prominently were memories. She was reliving every bad incident she had ever experienced. There were some from her years before Hogwarts, such as the first time she had a tooth pulled and being tripped by a bully at the park. She could deal with these, but that was until her Hogwarts memories began.

She saw and heard an eleven-year-old Ron mocking her and talking about her lack of friends. Even though this was no longer true, she felt her eyes fill with tears simply because it was Ron saying that. She tried to focus on the Ron she knew now, the one who wouldn't say such terrible things, but she was soon faced with a new memory.

It was from their second year and she was walking down the halls with a curly-haired Ravenclaw behind her. She had a mirror in her hand and was using it to look around corners. She was waiting for what she had only just realized was a basilisk. But they had only walked for a short time before she stuck the mirror around a corner and briefly saw a pair of enormous yellow eyes. She felt her body seize up, and the last thing she remembered was feeling utter terror...

Suddenly, the memories seemed to speed up, and she was pushed into several new ones in quick succession. There was Ron yelling at her about Crookshanks, Snape calling her an "insufferable know-it-all", and the aftermath of the Yule Ball. Then came all of the miserable moments from her sixth year. Ron kissing Lavender, the time when she dated Cormac to make Ron jealous, and then, worst of all, Ron being poisoned. She saw him lying in a bed in the hospital wing, so pale that he could have been dead, and she couldn't tear her eyes away from his face. She felt them filling up with even more tears, and through the haze of her memories, she felt them drip down her face.

She knew what was coming next. Every horrid memory from this past year. The announcement of Mad-Eye's death, Ron getting splinched, Ron abandoning them, the near-miss with Voldemort in Godric's Hollow, getting captured by Snatchers, and then—

Hermione felt like her head was splitting open. Her entire body was in agony and she was screaming. She clawed at her arms and her face, trying pointlessly to end the pain. She saw Bellatrix's snarling face above her, and she realized immediately that she was reliving her torture. She didn't know how to make all this misery go away, and she was getting especially desperate. She writhed on the dirty floor of the Chamber, screaming even louder as the already intense pain increased.

But then, she felt a pair of warm arms wrap around her and keep her from squirming. She knew right away that they were Ron's. The agony started to lessen, and she stopped screaming. When she leaned into Ron's chest, Bellatrix's torture disappeared completely. In its place she could see good memories: Ron and Harry befriending her after their incident with the troll, buying Crookshanks, reconciling with Ron about Scabbers, DA lessons, hearing Ron say her name in the hospital, Ron returning to her and Harry, and Ron comforting her after she'd been tortured.

With these memories flying past her eyes, she slowly started to stand up, grabbing the fang she had dropped in the process. Ron removed his arms, but she knew that he would stay behind her in case she fell. She made her way back across the Chamber, following the faded image of the cup that she could see through the still-flashing memories. When she reached the cup, she moved the fang over it. Without any hesitation, she stabbed it, falling to her knees as she did.

An ear-splitting scream filled the air and Hermione's vision finally cleared as the memories disappeared. She blinked several times and watched as the mangled cup let out one long hiss before falling silent.

Hermione turned around to see Ron standing right behind her. She stood up again, walked over to him, and proceeded to sob into his shoulder. Even after seeing her happy memories, she hadn't forgotten the pain from the bad ones. He put his arms around her and held her tightly, comforting her.

Eventually, Hermione forced herself to stop crying. They still had work to do. So, after drying her eyes, she collected her wand and some of the other basilisk fangs in her arms. Ron looked at her apprehensively, clearly not sure if she was in as good a state as she now seemed to be. She smiled kindly at him, and said, "Don't worry about me, Ron. I'm fine." This seemed to help, and he picked up most of the remaining fangs, as well as his broomstick and wand. He waited for her to start walking first, and she headed towards the exit of the Chamber.

When they were about halfway there, Hermione turned around to face Ron and said, "Oh…by the way, Ron. Thank you." She stepped toward him and kissed him lightly on the cheek. Before she turned back to the door, she saw Ron's face light up with a huge smile. A small grin appeared on her face too as they walked out of the Chamber of Secrets and back into the dark passage beyond.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This will be the last chapter! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed it or followed it until the end! Also, because continuity is my worst enemy, I spotted another error that I made in the first chapter about who realized they needed a way of destroying Horcruxes. So, if you'd like, you can go back and read the beginning of that chapter again! :)**

**Disclaimer:**** Nothing belongs to me! Not the characters, not the locations, and not the dialogue at the end of this chapter.**

As he and Hermione walked out of the Chamber, Ron was lost in thought. He didn't know what Hermione had seen when she faced the Horcrux, but judging by her screaming, it couldn't have been anything good. He would have come over to help her sooner, but when he was blown away from Hufflepuff's cup, he had hit one of the pillars and been knocked out.

It was only when she started screaming that he jolted back to consciousness and ran over to her as fast as his throbbing head allowed. The sight of her in such obvious pain scared him, and he was reminded of that horrible night at Malfoy Manor. The only thing he could think of that might help her was to hold and comfort her, just like he had done after she had been tortured. He was immensely relieved when she stopped screaming and instead leaned into his chest.

When she finally started to stand up, he let go of her, but stayed nearby just in case. He watched as she approached the cup and stabbed it with the fang. She turned to him and cried into his shoulder afterward, and his heart skipped a beat. He didn't want to let go when she stopped crying, but he tried to push away his own feelings. The only thing that mattered at that moment was if Hermione was alright. His concern must have shown on his face because she told him she was fine. Hearing her say it convinced him, and he helped her pick up the basilisk fangs.

And then, right before they left the Chamber, Hermione turned towards him and kissed his cheek. An enormous (and probably rather silly-looking) grin spread across his face. She had kissed his cheek before, but never out of gratitude for something he had done. Somehow, that made the kiss even more special.

He was contemplating all of this as they walked through the now relatively familiar underground passage. When they finally got to the steep tunnel leading up into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, Hermione turned to him, looking worried. When he asked her what was wrong, she replied, "How do we get out?"

Ron smiled and said, "I've got that covered." He shifted the fangs in his arms so that he could hold out his broomstick. Hermione's face brightened with understanding, and she smiled at Ron admiringly. He felt his ears turn pink, and he tried to hide it by climbing onto the broom. He gestured Hermione over and she climbed on behind him.

Realizing they needed a way to hold onto the broom, Ron instructed Hermione to put as many fangs as she could in her lap and to get rid of the rest. They both threw the extra fangs on the ground. Hermione wrapped her arms tightly around Ron's chest, and he knew that his ears were turning pink again. He tried to concentrate on flying them through the tunnel instead. It proved to be quite a difficult task. The tunnel took many twists and turns, and Ron was forced to fly relatively slowly to avoid hitting the sides of it.

Just when he was starting to wonder if the tunnel would ever end, they shot out the end of it. Despite their slow speed, they would have flown into the bathroom ceiling, but Ron swerved sharply at the last minute. He landed the broom safely on the bathroom floor, and he and Hermione both collected the remaining fangs in their arms and climbed off.

He hadn't noticed when they had flown in, but now Ron heard Myrtle wailing in her stall. He didn't think much of this, as Myrtle almost always cried, but then he heard a loud booming noise outside the bathroom door. He turned to Hermione, and as the castle shook he said, "They must be fighting." She nodded grimly and headed towards the door. Ron tucked the broomstick under his arm and followed her.

O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O—O

As Hermione exited the Chamber, Ron's statement about the fighting was confirmed. Across the hall from the bathroom were several crumbling statues and a broken window. The booms from outside the castle were even louder from here, and a small group of students darted by Ron and Hermione, taking no notice of them. Hermione realized she and Ron had no idea where they should go or where Harry was. After thinking for a moment, Hermione said, "Maybe we should just head back to the Room of Requirement. I mean, we've got a better chance of finding Harry there than we do of finding him anywhere else."

Ron nodded in agreement and started to head back the way they had come, towards the Room of Requirement. Hermione walked along beside him, and eventually they broke into a run. They bolted past more tumbled-over statues and several large groups of students. Suddenly, when they were only a short way from the Room of Requirement, Harry appeared around the corner. When he noticed them, his face was a mix of relief and frustration and he let out a yell as he approached them.

"Where the _hell_ have you been?" he bellowed.

"The Chamber of Secrets," Ron replied matter-of-factly.

"Chamber — _what_?" Harry asked, stopping in front of them.

Hermione jumped in at this point. "It was Ron, all Ron's idea!" she exclaimed, slightly out of breath from running. "Wasn't it absolutely brilliant? There we were, after you left, and I said to Ron, even if we find the other one, how are we going to get rid of it? We still hadn't got rid of the cup! And then he thought of it! The basilisk!"

"What the—?" Harry said, still hopelessly confused.

"Something to get rid of the Horcruxes," Ron answered.

Hermione noticed Harry's eyes drop to the fangs in their arms. He seemed to realize what they were, and he asked, "But how did you get in there? You need to speak Parseltongue!"

"He did!" Hermione said excitedly. "Show him, Ron!"

Ron hissed like he had in the bathroom and at the Chamber entrance, but it sounded quite a bit more strangled now than it had then. "It's what you did to open the locket," Ron told Harry. "I had to have a few goes to get it right, but we got there in the end." Ron shrugged as he said this, and Hermione was impressed by his modesty.

"He was _amazing_! Amazing!" she said with conviction.

"So...so..." Harry said slowly, obviously still not entirely sure what was going on.

"So we're another Horcrux down! Hermione stabbed it. Thought she should. She hasn't had the pleasure yet," said Ron. Hermione winced slightly. She knew that Ron was making a joke, but the experience was still too new in her mind for her to be able to think of it without getting an unpleasant feeling in her stomach.

"Genius!" Harry was shouting.

"It was nothing," Ron replied, although he had a smug sort of look as he said it. "So what's new with you?"

As if on cue, there was a huge explosion from above them. They all looked up and watched as dust fell from the ceiling. There was a scream from somewhere in the distance.

"I know what the diadem looks like, and I know where it is," Harry said quickly. "He hid it exactly where I hid my old Potions book, where everyone's been hiding stuff for centuries. He thought he was the only one to find it. Come on."

The castle shook again as Harry led them through the entrance to the Room of Requirement that was only a short walk from where they'd been standing. They hurried down the steep staircase and Hermione saw Ginny, Tonks, and Neville's grandmother.

As Harry went about making them leave the room, Hermione let her thoughts wander to the information Harry had just shared with them. It almost seemed too good to be true. They only had two Horcruxes left and they already knew where one of them was. Something told her that this wouldn't be as easy as she was thinking, but for the moment she let herself enjoy their success.

Harry finally got everyone except the three of them out of the room and up the staircase. He had just finished telling Ginny that she would have to come back in when they were done when Ron said, "Hang on a moment! We've forgotten someone!"

"Who?" asked Hermione, startled by his outburst.

"The house-elves, they'll all be down in the kitchen, won't they?" Ron answered, looking worried.

"You mean we ought to get them fighting?" Harry wondered.

"No," Ron said immediately. "I mean we should tell them to get out. We don't want any more Dobbies, do we? We can't order them to die for us—"

At these words, something inside Hermione snapped. She was done worrying about rejection or what Ron would say if he knew how she felt. Ever since he had left her and Harry in the forest, Ron had been trying his hardest to make up for his mistake. Everything he had done today, from thinking of the basilisk to (finally) caring about the house-elves seemed to add up in her head.

And then, making up her mind, Hermione dropped all of the fangs in her arms, ran over to Ron, and threw her arms around his neck. She kissed him on the mouth, and she felt him tense up. For a brief moment, she feared that she had made a horrible mistake, but he only threw away the fangs and broom he had been holding so that he could wrap his arms around her waist. She felt her feet leave the floor and her head was spinning. All coherent thought had abandoned her, so she only heard Harry talking to them when he shouted, "OI! There's a war going on here!"

She and Ron finally broke apart, but kept their arms around each other. "I know, mate," Ron said, his ears as red as his hair, "so it's now or never, isn't it?" Hermione smiled at this and felt herself blush.

Harry didn't look convinced. "Never mind that, what about the Horcrux?" he yelled at them. "D'you think you could just — just hold it in until we've got the diadem?"

Ron suddenly looked as uncomfortable as Hermione now felt. "Yeah — right — sorry —" Ron mumbled. He and Hermione both bent down to pick up the momentarily-forgotten fangs.

Harry looked satisfied, but he was obviously still feeling as awkward as they were. He turned towards the door and walked up the staircase, leaving them alone. They headed after him, but at the foot of the stairs, Ron stepped in front of Hermione, blocking her path. Before she could say anything, he leaned down and kissed her. This one only lasted a few seconds, but it still left Hermione considerably dizzy. After they broke apart for the second time, Ron grabbed Hermione's hand in his own, just like he had in the Chamber. Then, he led her through the door after Harry.

As they ascended the stairs, Hermione realized something. It was very likely that none of them would come out of this alive. And no matter what they did, there would be casualties. But despite these unavoidable facts, she felt happier than she had in a long time. They had something worth fighting for, and now she had Ron to fight for. And he had her.

That was all that mattered.

THE END


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